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Author Topic: Lake Iwanttobethere  (Read 318870 times)

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Offline Bobby Bass

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Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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CHANGE OF PLANS Sunshine Ray is forecasting heavy rains and thunder a lot like what we had last Sunday to start again tonight. He has been right two times in a row so maybe he is on a roll! That and Stormy Clearweather is forecasting the same thing. So I think I am going to wait till Saturday to head on up to the RESORT. Grandson number two is here for the day and I have been working on keeping him busy. So far he has been in the garden picking strawberries which I of course helped him eat. Weed whacked the yard and even got the leaf blower started and cleared the sidewalks. The wife wanted to steal him but before she could number two son got him to help fix the broken brake line on the Dodge. The excuse to crawl under the truck and get dirty is much more appealing then baking cookies to a eleven old boy.

I was going to have him start mixing potting soil up for the five gallon buckets but with rain on the way I think we will wait for the weekend and the forecasted nice week a head. Now here is where I think Sunshine Rays streak of forecasting will run out. Son is fixing the brakes because he needs the truck to haul some scrap to Mike's salvage yard. Sounds like a fair trade to me and I have a few things that can go go bye bye here to. Nice day here right now, upper seventies a little breeze and I have a bobber floating off the dock. The wind is pulling the bobber out so I don't have to go down and toss it out. The one shot was good enough and guess what it has a sucker that I just happen to fine in Elmers minnow bucket.

Speaking of Elmer he was over talking to the boys under the Dodge. I asked what he was up to and he said he was looking for someone to do some mowing, the grandsons services are in demand. Over at Chucks place he is working on getting his rubber roof secured before the forecasted storm arrives. I did hear from one of the Lodge members Dew that he may have a foot pedal for Chucks trolling motor but I forgot to tell him. I will get back over there later today and see what he is going to do. He was talking to the wife about making a purchase so he just might go ahead and make an upgrade. So I might go out shopping and do my favorite thing, help spend someone else's money.

Took a break just now, the bobber was bouncing some. Called the grandson to check it out, minnow is OK must have gotten spooked by something. I sat on the deck and kept an eye on the bobber for awhile but it settle down so I just came back in the cabin now to finish this up. Duncan brought me the mail and the wife headed into town to Ma and Pa's Grocery. Going to pick up some cold cuts and fixings just in case the storm comes and we lose power. Have to think ahead of these storms out here. I of course had a few cravings and added them to the list. Kit Kats and a six pack of Hamms were added to the bottom of the list and a bag of apples. Maybe she will bake some pie tonight. A couple of days into summer and we are almost where we should be as far as having some time to relax and enjoy time on the deck here at Lake Iwanttobethere
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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COOL, CLOUDY BUT not raining out this morning. The forecasted storm pretty much missed us here at Hidden Bay but we did get enough rain that the gardens did not need to get watered. Last night a light rain fell that was not forecasted but was welcomed. Most of the garden has been planted with seed so watering is important till things pop up. Early strawberries are appearing but we have a problem there as the last few days when the wife has gone out to pick them she has found a woodchuck already picking the best ones ahead of her. She told me this and I now have the .22 by the deck door and a shell in my pocket. She made the comment that the woodchuck is so cute then I reminder her of the chuck that ate all her cauliflower one night. She then asked if one shell was going to be enough.

The chuck has been showing up in the middle of the afternoon so I have plenty of time to set up on the deck, of course my luck today will be the day he changes up his routine. I did put call to Elmer who hates woodchucks and told him about the berries. He said he will come down from the RESORT and check his garden, The wood chuck must be having breakfast somewhere close. Some good news though, we did get the attic fan back working, was as simple as blowing it off with air and a good shot of WD-40, we let it sit and soak for a few days and last night we hit the switch and she purred right up. Was not looking forward to replacing it.

Skip ahead a day here as yesterday afternoon my best bud and neighbor Chuck came over in the afternoon to bring me a jug of Maple Syrup and we sat for a spell in the torn up kitchen. Talk came around to the new dishwasher sitting in its box in the corner and when I was going to get around installing it. Well Chuck said it was a little warm for working outside but not to warm to work inside and well he went ahead and installed the dishwasher for me and the new kitchen facet. I didn't know when I was going to get around to it with my bad leg so I can't tell you how happy I was to get it done. We ended up doing some bartering as I had my old trolling motor in the basement that I did not toss when I upgraded a few years back and it ended up being a good trade for both of us.

Had some Drs. visits to go to today but when I got back to the cabin the water of Hidden Bay was like glass and the leaves on the trees were still. I made it down to the dock and tossed a sucker out on to the water and sat on the dock and caught some sunshine. Duncan was making the rounds and did find some chipmunks to chase. Duncan knowing there is a woodchuck working the garden was always making a passing round by the strawberries to see if he could hook up with the Woodchuck. Would have been a nice night to be out in the Puddle Humper cruising the shoreline in search of some bass but the Puddle Humper remands under her tarp and it is looking more and more I will not be uncovering her to go fishing this season. It sounds like the blood clot I am carrying in my leg is not going to be going away and it is something I am going to be living with. I am not real happy about this as it looks like the quality of my life is going to be what it is right now. This would explain when I ask my doctors when I am going to get better and none of them have an answer. To say I am a little depressed right now is an understatement. But this is Lake Iwanttobethere so there is always some kind of hope for a change. Maybe this will be a case where me being "That Guy" means I will break the rule and pass the clot safely here at Lake Iwanttobethere   110751<><
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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Have a good 4th I am off to the RESORT for a loong weekend, looks to be a great weekend weatherwise and I plan on kicking back some and just do nothing.. Here at Lake Iwanttobethere
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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MOST OF THE time I have a hard time starting an opening paragraph for a update here at Lake Iwanttobethere, that is not the case here this past 4th of July as I have many. So I am just going to throw some out there in random order.

4th of July is of course is a time for celebration but it is also a time for bright lights and fireworks and also the time for blowing things up under the cover of fireworks. I received a call from the wife there is one less woodchuck in the garden at the cabin as it was shot by her using my twenty gage. I will need to clean the shotgun when I get home and she told me the body was tossed off the dock into the waters of Lake Iwanttobethere. I started to complain about that asking why she did not just bury it till she told me a big northern scooped up the wood chuck almost as soon as it hit the water. I guess I need to start fishing off the dock with a bigger sucker minnow.

At the RESORT there is no longer a curve in the driveway as Hammering Hank and Skinny blew out the big maple stump that was in the way.

A few beaver dams have been removed from the trout stream (Arlo) and there is a pool that has been deepen (Arlo)

Remember when you were young like twelve or thirteen and you had these great ideas but you lacked finical backing? Well when you get to be fifty or sixty that is no longer a problem. You can use cash, savings, borrow or barter, wheel and deal or share your ideas with others. On the fourth of July this year a number of things were tried that were first thought of in our youth. First off I do want to say that a gathering of men without kids or wife's are usually done at deer camp and now we have the RESORT where kids and wife's don't belong  on the 4th. Early in the day the FELLOWS tied several of their kid's GI Joe miniature solders to bottle rockets duck taped together and then shot them skyward to watch them float back to the ground using their parachutes

Next estes rocket engines were placed inside their shipping tubes with a cherry bomb as a nose cone and launched off into the sky. They gave a satisfying explosion about five hundred feet into the sky. We had to stop that when somehow we shot out a passing drone. The drone sank in the waters of the bay before we could get to it. Funny because Vic had gone out to the mailbox that morning and put up the big sign that said explosives were going to be used that day and it had the skull and bones painted on it. We had borrowed the sign from the mine and will return it tomorrow, funny how people just can't read warning signs.

The night before we had taken the outboards off the wood rowboats and had a bottle rocket and Roman candle war was held on the bay. I will add at this time the disclaimer that there was no drinking involved by any of the participants, just like it would have been if we were twelve.

4th of July night was a lot of fun as we did something we had been planning for months. We were going to try and out do Nytelyters Fireworks display down on Root Beer Island. I heard on KCUM radio that 43 % of al Americans go to a public fireworks display, the rest stay at home and shoot off their own or do nothing, we had a plan. Some where somehow the FELLOWS picked up what is suppose to be a civil war motar. It is big enough to shoot a bowling ball and of course that is what we started off with at dusk. So does a bowling ball make noise when it lands in the woods on the other side of the bay if we hope no one is there? Does a bowling ball make noise when ten bowling pins are in front of it when they all land on the other side of the bay?" I might add it was a perfect strike about halfway across.

Awhile back I wrote about how the FELLOW had brought back a crane to the RESORT. Well we have found many uses for the crane all the way from a very very high deer stand to moving picnic tables and outhouses around the RESORT. Well it also works very well in moving a civil war mortar to the edge of the bog where the FELLOWS dug it in and used the bog as a cushion. We also moved all of our fire extinguishers to that location and the old boat was filled with water and suspended over the motar just in case it was needed. Now I hear the first shot that was fired was perfectly timed between some shots Nytelyter and fired off and a few people down at the boat landing took notice of the cloud in the sky. Second shot was noticed a little more but our third shot was kind of special. I will take credit as it was something from my youth that I wanted to recreated

When I was maybe twelve or so A couple of my buddies saved our money and we bought about ten boxes of paper book matches from a very young Ma and Ma grocery store and we clipped off all the match heads and put them into a glass freeze dried coffee container that was shaped like a motar..We than ran a cord or something I don't remember and lit off about 10,000 match heads at the same time. A roar of flame maybe ten feet high went skyward and it was the hottest est coolest thing we had ever done up to that point. Now being 756 months old I wanted to recreate that using the civil war motar. The last several months we have been secretly buying up paper book matches we cut off the heads, and now we put in a bowling ball and filled the motar with thousands of match heads, well maybe tens of thousands of match heads, actually I don't really know, it filled the area in front of the bowling ball and I guess we forgot about the charge we had placed in behind the bowling ball.

Now all of us being hopefully a little older and smarter we also had brought up the back hoe to hide behind and with Nytelyters fireworks display coming to an end we had Elmer on his cell phone giving us the thumbs up to fire our motar off. It was not what we expected. It was way more!!! I only got to see a brief moment as the flame shot out of the motor and I was blinded by the light. It shot out in an arc across the bay and Elmer said from his vantage point it looked like a second sunset had appeared in the sky. The boom echoed through the bay and seemed to get louder each time. The crowd at the boat landed gave out a collective awe. And when it was done and we could see again we gagged at the sulfur cloud in the air. We all looked at each other with twelve year old grins and as we shook our heads back and forth saying no we said out loud we have to do this again ! Not this year though as the motor was gone. The explosion had driven it into the bog and steam was rising were it had been a moment before. Tiny tripped the release and the boat hanging from the crane dumped its load of water into the hole and the bog closed up around the mortar. We all agreed that later in the summer we would dig it back up, it would be safer that way here at Lake Iwanttobethere    111055<><
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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Two bad storms the past two weeks here at Lake Iwanttobethere. No sooner do we get one cleaned up then we get hit with an even bigger one with 70 mph winds that took out trees and power. RESORT is in bad shape as road is blocked and I just got out in time to make it home. Sunday night I head down to the Mayo Clinic for my appointment, I have no idea how long I will be down there. I will post when I get back and hopefully the RESORT will be back open and the forecasted storm of tonight will not be bad. Health wise for me nothing has changed, still have clot in my leg which limits my movement and numbness in my hands which makes these posts shorter and shorter. Still hoping to get some fishing in this fall, throwing a sucker off the dock does not count here at Lake Iwanttobethere..
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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IMPRESSIVE, TODAY'S WORD. I went down to the Mayo Clinic for my visit on Sunday afternoon even though my appointment was not till early Monday morning. I guess you could call it a bucket list write off. Not the appointment the fact that I went down with my daughter and her three blonde hair girls and we traveled over 200 miles each way and survived.

I should have brought a camera with and I thought the wife had packed one away but she had forgotten or I had forgotten to remind her. First off the traffic to the big city was beyond terrible. There was a thirty-five minute delay that was posted from a flashing information sign along the road and when we came up on it a lemonade stand was moving down the shoulder of the freeway at a faster clip It had been awhile since I could look at the side of the road and that is when I noticed the huge stands of corn., acres and acres of shoulder high corn. Sure put my little patch of corn back at home to shame.

Corn as far as the eye could see, it would have made a good picture. We took a detour that the daughter's phone suggested and saved the thirty-five minutes. I have always given the daughter some grief on the spendy phone she has but she said nothing as the phone and it's App showed it value. Several miles down the road another huge stand of corn with two silver silos in the center and the sun getting low behind them in the late afternoon, another picture I missed. And then I saw one of the huge windmills turning in a field. From time to time I will see a blade of these huge windmills been moved back in Fish County where Lake Iwanttobethere is. Seeing the three blades together and turning slowly in the late afternoon was pretty impressive and another picture I missed not having a camera.

We found our hotel and checked in and ten minutes later the four blondes were in the pool and I was searching for the baseball game which of course was blacked out. Supper at a rib joint and I was in bed sleeping before ten. Next morning the daughter and the blondes dropped me and the wife off at Mayo which was only a mile away and they headed back to the pool and me and the wife entered either a giant bee hive or an ant hill. That is what it felt like. Hundreds of people moving underground between buildings. The lobby of the building that we entered could have held a couple of tennis courts. Or the block that DOC Burriem had his office on.

Twenty minutes later and I found myself in a ten by ten room with two doctors and two hours later I left knowing I was not a candidate for any work done at the Mayo. The risk was too great that something bad could happen and after a discussion I decided to continue with the current treatment plan and not taking what would be a risk at not coming off the surgical table because of other health factors. A call to the daughter found her in the pool with the girls but thirty minutes later I exited the hive to find them waiting for me. Back to the hotel and a nap for me and yet another visit to the pool for the girls.

Spent another day at the motel since we had booked it and the girls spent more time in the pool. The wife and daughter went shopping and I just took it easy. Cell phone was off and I just enjoyed the A/C and thought over my decision. By mid afternoon we packed up the van and headed back home to Lake Iwanttobethere We did take another detour by Mystery River The daughter had a surprise for me. Her and her husband and put an offer in on a house not far from the river and it had been accepted, the blondes were not moving far away from me here at Lake Iwanttobethere
112242 <><
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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ALMOST THERE TODAY, that is the cleanup of the road leading into the LODGE. We are three weeks after the rain storm that toppled a few trees and left mud measured in inches everywhere. Now two weeks after a storm that left the rain storm look like a sun shower we have the main road cleared of trees, power back on and enough firewood for a few winters waiting to be cut and split. This took a week to clear the down trees and here at the Lodge we have big boy toys, The crane was repositioned and was used to take tree tops and toss them back into the woods away from the road. I am looking forward to these brush piles as homes for grouse come fall and maybe a few bunnies will also move in. Back hoe hauled loads of tree trunks and burn size limbs back to the wood shed making a pile where they will be cut to length and split. Still don't know where we are going to stack it all but right now we are not worried.

We had so many trees blocking the road that we had a meeting and almost decided to just build a new road but we would have had to haul a lot of fill in. The first few days were hard as we had to decide what to do with our gas, use it for fishing or keep the generator running. I was at home so I could not vote but it was a close vote I was told. At home I missed it all, did not lose power and just a few branches fell. I was up when the big leading edge of wind came though. It was impressive as I watched the deck umbrella get sucked out of the table and fly away. The wife found it the next day over in Elmer's yard snagged in his garden fence. I did get to see the damage as I took the ATV trail in, that was open first, not for me but to get gas in for the fishing boats.

Not a lot that I could do around the place. Somewhat frustrating being stuck in the wheelchair and not being able to do anything as we still have a lot of mud and skinny tires don't do well in the mud. Then I had my trip down to the Mayo' don't feel like I am carrying my weight around here. Lost the corn here but Vic has been out in the garden tieung up stalks hoping they will rebound. On another topic it looks like chemo has won a round here. Getting to be harder and harder getting up and down the stairs to my room so we are going to change the downstairs bedroom back to a bedroom from its current theater status. This will keep me on one level but will take me away from climbing stairs. Still hoping to lose that blood clot and regain my mobility, if and when it happens the downstairs bedroom will just become a guest room here at Lake Iwanttobethere   112381 <><
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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I USED TO be pet rich but I no longer am. It was not that long ago or at least it seems not that long ago where Barney patrolled the shoreline and kept the old goose away. Come to think of it when Barney passed the old goose and his mate also disappeared. Bud who was always at my side no longer shares the swing on the deck with me during thunderstorms and was always there if you had a cold or to answer the door. Bag of dog food disappeareds in weeks instead of days now and the bowl of dog bones last a long time if someone is not at the cabin to visit.

The small little female Siamese cat named Smoochie was the boss and ran the show and now all three of them have been gone for awhile. Duncan is doing his best trying to fill in but he is just one dog and as smart as he is he did not really have enough time around the old dogs to learn all of their jobs and tricks. I see times where I think he to misses the old dogs as he has taken to spending a lot of time with Buff the cat. It works out as Buff the cat was Smoochie favorite. Now I find Buff and Duncan sleeping in the sun on the floor together and following each other around the cabin. If you see one it will only be a minute or so before the other one appears making sure they are not missing anything.

Big boy the other cat in the cabin spends most of the day in the basement. He avoids everyone till evening where he will then come up to eat and check out the cabin to make sure nothing has been moved. I suspect he spends the night patrolling the cabin and sleeps all day. From time to time if I am up late he will jump up in my lap for a few minutes and rub against me, I think he is giving me a report but I only speak lab not cat so the best I can do is pet him some and pretend I understand.

Birthday party this afternoon for one of the blonde hair granddaughters, the wife just came back from Ma and Pa's with sandwich fixings. I know this because Duncan just showed up in my bedroom with a package of thick sliced bologna wrapped in white butcher paper. No sooner did he hop in to bed then I heard the wife yelling for him to bring the package back. I was thinking he was just showing me we had bologna and he didn't have any thought about eating it himself, well now that I think of it maybe he was going to share the bologna with me. Something Bud would do from time to time.

With the Mayo trip out of the way I have a Drs. appointment on Tuesday then nothing on my list for me to do. I should be going on a maintenance program for awhile as I am doing good cancer wise but no one wants to do anything with me as long as I have the blood clot in my leg and am taking blood thinners. No one wants to get rid of that clot more then me. Another great looking day outside of my window and I sure wish I was fishing instead of writing this. Duncan and Buff just showed up in my room. I am sitting on the edge of the bed working on the laptop and Buff is on my left side and Duncan on my right. They are both licking their lips and I just now hear the wife yelling for Duncan. There is a whiff of blognia in the air here at Lake Iwanttobethere
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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GREAT WEEK TO be retired or on vacation, I am retired so I wish I had the last week to be on vacation. This morning was the third day in a row where I woke up to calm winds and decent temperatures. If I could be out fishing I would have been on the water by mid afternoon and would have stayed out till it was too dark to see the wake coming off a buzz bait. I did see the DOC early in the week and got some good news. I am no longer on the heavy dose of Chemo but have now started a maintenance dose for at least the next five weeks. I also have dropped the steroids that have cause a lot of side effects. Water gain is one of them along with messing with my diabetes. In the past ten weeks I have gained 70 pounds mostly water. As you might have guessed the weight gain has made it hard to walk and nearly impossible to do stairs. I was sent home with instructions to lose the water weight and my water pill medication was tripled. Of course this means I don't travel too   far away from the bathroom and sleeping at night is measured in a few hours at a time. I am hoping to shed the water and get some mobility back which of course will help with a lot of things. No longer doing steroids will bring my blood sugars back under control which will help with a lot of other side effects that I have to suffer these past six months. Swelling and general discomfort I am hoping will also get better All good news for me. The DOC at the Mayo agreed that the I am doing good and it is safe too cut back and get my body back in balance. :happy1:


We have been getting rain but it has been falling overnight so all is dry by morning. Weeds are growing well in the garden but the plants are also doing good. Came home from the DOC's the other day and took some time to look over the garden and rain gutters that have the five gallon pails on them They look nothing like the skinny plants that were planted by the grand kids less then a month ago. Container corn is doing well which is good because the corn in the garden was destroyed by the two big storms we had. Cucumber plants have gone from six inch sticks to 4 foot long vines with leaf as big as my hands. Onions not so good but the entire garden was planted very late this season so anything that gets harvested I will considered to be a bonus.

Have not seen any sign of the second wood chuck since the wife took a shot at him. Berries are doing well as there is no longer any competition from him any more. Raspberries are producing and I am enjoying my mixed bowl of berries and cereal for breakfast in the morning. I think the youngest granddaughter and the wife will be making jelly this weekend, That is if the granddaughter does not eat all the berries when they pick tomorrow morning. My neighbor Chucks wood shed is over flowing with wood from all the blow downs. I figured he has enough wood for this winter and next. I have a good size pile myself and even though Chuck has offered to cut it up for me I have put it on my bucket list as something I want to get healthy enough to do myself here at Lake Iwanttoethere
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline HD

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Has anybody heard from Bobby?  :scratch:
Mama always said, If you ain't got noth'in nice to say, don't say noth'in at all!

Online glenn57

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was wondering the same thing????? hoping he's all right. I loved reading his stories!!!!!!!!!!! well dotches to!!!!
2015 deer slayer!!!!!!!!!!

Offline Bobby Bass

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Tao more week more weeks of rehap an d I will be backl :happy1:
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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THE RIDE HOME was slow and relaxing. It had been five weeks since I had taken any big breaths of outdoor air. Two weeks in the hospital with windows that didn't open and another three weeks in the nursing home. The daughters came and got me out of the nursing home where I was doing rehab. I told the oldest who was driving to take her time going home so I could enjoy the sights. I had missed all of summer and now I found myself already deep into fall. We had to avoid a few of the Leafers as they were parked in the middle of the road taking pictures. I found myself looking out the passenger window at the colorful leafs and the ones on the road and if someone was to drive by I guess they would be right in calling me a Leafier to.

I got myself pretty sick and if I got into an am wrestling contest with  baby the baby would have won. Three weeks of rehab has gotten me better but now I am going to get two months of rehab at home. Guess  I was pretty sick there but I should be much better with the home care I will be getting. I came home a couple of days ago and I am just now sitting at the den desk putting some thoughts down. First off it was very good to turn into my own driveway after five weeks. Duncan was waiting for me with his tail wagging so hard side to side I was worried he was going to shake it off. The yard needs mowing and the garden was loaded with bright red tomatoes. First thing I did was pet Duncan and the second thing was to ask the wife to make me a tomato sandwich.

Not going to bore you with hospital talk other then I met a few interesting people and I don't want to go back. Nothing worse then the  highlight of your day is meal time and everyday meal time was a new surprise. I have been home a few days now and I have yet to get sick of tomato sandwiches and I am working on the wife to bake up some apple pies. The tree out front is just hanging with ripe apples and I am going to get the granddaughter to get the picker out. I  have not been to the Lodge yet but I heard while I was in the hospital that there was a fire but all is well and the FELLOWS along with help have added an addition. When I get a chance it is on my list to get down there. Might be a small problem because I have been declared home bound and there are not to many places I can leave the cabin to go to. I need the help at home so I may have to get creative getting to the Lodge, although I don't really think there are Medicare police watching me.

The wife asked me to make a list of what needs to be done outside before the snow flys I was about halfway through and she looked at it over my shoulder and stared complaining. I told her don't act so surprised, I was not even half done. No outside work today, cold and windy out and over night we even had some snow. It melted soon after sunrise but it still was snow. Garden needs to be harvested and the big tomato patch needs a plastic cover t so I can turn it into a mini greenhouse. While I was gone the wife and daughters did  get  the kitchen painted and put a new tile floor in. Some trim needs to still be installed but they did a pretty good job. Well I all done for now, hands hurt but now that I am back home I should catch you up with what is happening here at Lake Iwanttobethere
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Online glenn57

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It's GRRRREAT,as Tony the tiger would say, to have you back bobby! :happy1: :happy1:
2015 deer slayer!!!!!!!!!!

Offline Dotch

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Saw you over on that "other" site but it's great to see you no matter where it is. Welcome back!  :happy1: :happy1: :happy1:
Time itself is bought and sold, the spreading fear of growing old contains a thousand foolish games that we play. (Neil Young)

Offline Gunner55

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I didn't know you were over here as I joined while you were gone. I'll be the 3rd to say ::welcome:: back BB
Life............. what happens while your making other plans. John Lennon

Offline Lee Borgersen

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Glad to see your on the rebound. One day at a time my young brotha! :happy1:
Proud Member of the CWCS.
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If you help someone when they're in trouble, they will remember you when they're in trouble again

Offline Bobby Bass

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Cleaning my desk today at home. Funny how the wife just piled it high with anything that she found belongs to me. I got mnoth old mail through and pink slip telephone calls. A few were fishing offers but have since expired. I did get out once and caught a decent bass but this fishing season was a wash. Hope to post a story later today, thanks for the well wishes, the lake and me live on !

Been on here forever, great site that has let me tell the stories of Lake Iwanttobethere and I hope the stories and me have may more years and many stories to tell. I may be sick but I ain't dead yet. I have good days and bad days but those that know me I am a stubborn cuss  a little cancer ain't going to stop me I got grandkids I want to spend time with and fish to still catch!     
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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MIDMORNING THIS MORNING the wife announced that if she was going to make apple pies she needed t go to town and pick up a few things from Ma and Pa's. I casually mentioned that I would like to go along for the ride. After dropping several hints along the way the wife gave in and pulled into my parking space at the Lodge. First off I notice my sign had been freshly painted and also the small H/C ramp had been stained. I was half way out of the Tahoe when I felt a strong pairs of hands grab me and ease me into my wheelchair. Skinny stood above me and asked if I wanted a push up the ramp and I nodded my head yes.

The doors to the Lodge open up and I was back where I belonged The smell of popcorn and beer and hundred year old logs. A fire going in the fire place and the big drapes pulled back to show off the deck and the waters of Lake Iwanttobethere. Skinny rolled me over to the bar and one by one the FELLOWS got up from the round table and came over to welcome me back. They did not do it with a handshake but with a big old man hug that we both held, no words were spoke but the hugs said a lot. It did not end with the FELLOWS everyone in the Lodge greeted me back and I had tears running down my check from the welcome. I can't describe what it feels like to have friends open up and great you.

The Lodge was dark as usual so I don't think anyone saw my tears so I wiped them away with the sleeve of my jacket and announced a round is on me, That is when Gus came out of the kitchen and announce my money is no good at the Lodge then quietly he added for today only. I sipped on a Hamms which I have not tasted in months, it was all that I remember it to taste like. Gus sat next to me and told me of the fire that happen while I was away. Insurance took care of the damage but they, the members put it to a vote that maybe we should do some expanding. I finished my beer and followed Gus through the door that once led to my office but now led to a long hall the length of the Lodge.

At the very end was two rooms to store dry goods for the kitchen, something we always needed as Gus was always filling his office with flour and spice. Next room could be used as a meeting room or a break room for employees. Gus told that high stake card games just happen to happen there. Two more rooms left and one was Gus's. Of course there was a case of spices on his desk, old habits are hard to break. Gus open the last or first door depending on how you looked at it and said this one was of course mine. I rolled in to find my odd desk and coat rack, pictures on the wall and the old couch with Buds blanket piled in the coroner. Weird I felt a bump against the chair and I swear I saw the couch shake a little and the blanket move, Gus asked me what I thought and with a tear rolling down my cheek I told him it was just perfect It is good to be back home at Lake Iwanttoebethere
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobberineyes

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Glad your back Bobby!! :happy1:

Offline Bobby Bass

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Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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I SAT IN my new office surrounded by my old stuff and it took but a few minutes to feel at home. As I looked around I was missing something and there was an empty spot where my golf clubs should have been setting I rolled out of the office scraping the right side of my door with the wheelchair. I left a mark but I figured it was just going to be the first of many. I made it out to the main room and went behind the bar, I found that I could still reach the tapper for the Hamms and I drew half a mug and I balanced it with my left hand. I rolled around the bar and Gus called the room to attention.
"Bobby I and the rest of the Lodge have something  for you"
Skinny came from the kitchen with my old golf bag but right away I noticed new clubs sticking out.
"Bobby while you were gone we washed out an empty pickled egg jar and set it on the bar, the guys have been dropping change into it and we came up with enough to buy you some clubs. There is also a calendar in there with the dates penciled in with guys who would like to take you golfing. Of course if the weather is real nice they will more the likely be fishing. We bought you clubs becase we think you are going to be well enough to golf again come spring.""

I looked at the new clubs and reached out to shake Gus's hand. And I waved at the members in the room and said thank you thank you. I then asked Gus if his name is on the calendar and he said of course. I then asked if we were playing for a buck a hole and he nodded yes. I then went to figure out where I was going to spend my eighteen dollars because Gus is a great friend but he is even worse then me at golf. Skinny asked if I wanted the clubs in my office and I nodded yes. Sipping on my beer Gus asked what is with the left hand and I told him during my hospital stay I threw another blood clot in my right forearm making me a lefty. Gus looked alarm and I told him I am OK just something else I have to work around this winter.

I just finished my beer when the wife walked in, back to the cabin just in time as granddaughter number two showed up to spend the night. I put her to work picking apples as I watched and pulling carrots from the garden. We both got cold and went inside and got busy doing other things and never got around to peeling apples That was OK it was great to just spend time with the granddaughter. During the evening grandson number two called and asked if he could sleep over on Saturday and before I knew it we had the couch booked. He offered to mow the grass in exchange for some sweet corn that was still growing in the garden and a deal was made.

This morning Chuck took me to the RESORT and I watched the football game and Vic filled me in on what had been going on over the last five weeks. Him and DOC have been catching crappies and are looking forward to putting their shanty right on top of their hot spot come winter. I was of course sworn to secrecy but I don't have a cue where the hot spot is. FELLOWS have been working to pull out the Mortar from the bog but are having hard time hooking up and no one wisely wants to step into the bog after it. So if even though I have been gone for awhile things have changed  but a lot has stayed the same here at Lake Iwanttobethere
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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SOMETIMES YOU HEAR "timing is everything" Yesterday I got up and made my way into my den and sat down in my office chair. I looked at the hanging wall clock only to see that it had stopped. A simple battery replacement I thought and I open the desk drawer to see I was out of double AA batteries. I started a need sheet and wrote down double AA batteries. Next I got out my blood testing kit and guess what the battery dead. message was on. Checked where there should be spare  ca 2032 battery and found nothing. No big deal I added it to the list. Called for the wife to bring the bathroom scale to the den because I needed to weigh myself to se if I was still losing weight. Guess what the wife tells me the scale is dead we need a battery., I am beginning to see a pattern here.

The daughter is going to town so I tell to pick up some batteries, she ask me if I am going to get a battery for the deck clock, I add it to the list and she drives away. With the wife's help I get down to the shop as I am thinking about starting on the short little wheelchair ramp I need to install on the deck. You will not believe this but the batteries to the electronic keypad are .....dead. Wife goes into the cabin and gets the key and we go inside and get my Paslsoe nail driver. We put it on the deck and I jokingly say "watch this will be dead. We plug the battery charger and.......its dead. I just shake my head and call the daughter on her cell and she goes over to the General Store and we are lucky enough that Big Earl has a battery in stock.40.00 for the battery and another 15.00 for all the others and I am down 55 bucks and I have not done a thing.

Today finds me doing nothing, forecast from Sunshine Ray called for rain that never came. It was nice to do nothing as I am still getting  use to being home. I did mange to get to the hot house and discovered we have a ton of tomatoes and more peppers then I will ever be able to use. We have a bell pepper plant that has produce over 20 peppers bigger then my fist so I am gong to save and dry seeds from that plant for next year. Frost was in the forecast for last night so the tarps came out to cover things up in the garden and some select plants in the five gallon buckets went into  the greenhouse. Yesterday it hit 76 degree here, If the Pudde Humper was ready and it was another time I would have been fishing instead of sitting in my wheelchair.

Still have not peeled any apples and the wife has made no pies. If I want pies I have to peel. Nothing has changed for me in that department. It is not that I don't have peeling applies on my list of things to do it is just that other things seem to get more attention then the pies. On a more serious note we has a death in the family. Ziggie, the daughters gold fish died. Now this was not one of them little toilet flushers Ziggie was four years old and was thirteen and a half inches long and weighed in at twelve ounces. He would plug your everyday toilet so early this morning a hole was dug in the front flower bed and Ziggie was laid  to rest. With any luck we will have even better looking flowers with his remains here at Lake Iwanttobethere
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline HD

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Sorry to hear about  Ziggy Bobby....but, it reminded me of my favorite video..... I'll apologize first, before you watch it.....
https://youtu.be/Khc1ciGtRAI
Mama always said, If you ain't got noth'in nice to say, don't say noth'in at all!

Offline Rebel SS

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HAHAHAhAhAha!!!!!!!  :Clap:

Offline Bobby Bass

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YELLED AT THE wife this afternoon to give me a dollar. It has been months since I have had a dollar in my wallet. I spent two weeks in the hospital and then three more weeks in the nursing home That entire time I did not have a dollar to my name. Good thing as the other day I bought a round at the Lodge and had no way to pay for it, lucky me Gus bought. I was not going any place but I still wanted some jingle in my pocket. Busy week as I had home therapy Monday. Tuesday and Friday. Wednesday and Thursday I had to go see the doctors but the weekend is all mine. The smell of baking pies are in the cabin and yesterday I made chili and you can still smell that to. Tomorrow the two ten year old grand kids will be here and I have a long list of things for them to do. They are both good workers so if it does not rain we will be busy. I plan on making my deep pan pizza for supper so we will pig out.

Very good visit with my cancer DOC as he is continuing to keep me off any cancer drugs. I have been off for thirty days and my next appointment is four weeks away and no cancer drugs have been prescribed. I am thinking I might be on the other side. Now I just need to shake all the side effects and get myself back too normal. This may take months but I have a better outlook on life now then I did a few months ago. I had hoped I would have gotten out fishing this fall and deer season is going to be iffy at best. I do have 60 days of in home therapy and they say they will be able to get some strength back into my legs so I may be able to get out of the wheelchair and perhaps get around with a walker. That would be a big thing to me even though it may sound like a small thing to you.

I started this a few days ago but got sidetracked with projects.The ten year old grandson and granddaughter spent the weekend here and they are workers. A ramp was built off the deck for the wheelchair and I cut the boards but they screwed it all together. Sunflowers were harvested from the garden and they cut down the sweet corn. This was all taken to the front yard where they decorated the shepherd hooks holding up the bird feeders. The next morning a war was going on as Ed and Eddie the squirrels tried to hold off a black squirrel and a couple of blue jays from raiding their feeders. Add some pigeons and some crows and I just sat back with the grand kids and watched. Garden was mowed as weeds have taken over and we were going to build another raise bed but they had things to do at home. Me and the wife might try and do it as I want to dump the five gallon buckets of dirt into the new bed and see how we did in the potato growing experiment. The new bed will be for strawberries as the bed we have is being choked with plants. The wife said if she had another bed she would transplant so guess what another bed she will get. I have no problem at all eating home grown strawberries.

Indoor projects continue as the theater is next on the list. New carpet and maybe a couple of overstuff chairs. Also I am not going to risk it anymore and I have spoke with Big Earl about a new snow thrower. Not a big monster but a smaller one that I or the wife can handle. Matter of fact the ten year old grandson asked what age you have to be to run a snow thrower and I said here at Lake Iwanttobethere it just so happens to be ten.
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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THUNDERSTORM CAME THROUGH the area late last night. As storms go this summer it was not much of one. About thirty minutes before the rain fell we had some strong winds for a few minutes. The wind came through the trees briskly and loudly and the wind chimes on the deck rang out. I was sitting at the desk in the den watching a football game but the wind was more interesting. This morning I got up and the French trees had lost a lot of leaves. I call the popple trees "The French Trees" just like my uncle did. I asked him why and he told me because the French trees give up their leaves so quickly in the fall. It was years before I understood what he was saying.

The afternoon was broken up by Maureen my social worker from the county. She came to interview me but I am afraid I took up most of her time talking. She will return in a couple of weeks to finish her interview, I will have to remind myself to stick to her topics. After she left I had the wife help me out on to the deck and I sat on the swing. A cool over cast day and everything was still wet. Duncan made his rounds of the yard and the headed to the trail that leads into the woods and this time of the year grouse. He sat in the wet grass and looked at me and since I speak lab I knew what he wanted. He wanted to know why I was still on the deck and why weren't we walking down the trail. Just about then the wife came out and she saw Duncan sitting. She asked if he was waiting for me to go hunting and I nodded my head yes.

The wife sat down next to me and she told me that when I was at the nursing home he did the same thing to her. It was a sunny afternoon so what the heck she decided to take a walk with Duncan down the trail She told me she walked across the yard and onto the trail and Duncan jumped up and started working the trail in front of her. He was a very happy dog the wife thought as his nose was working the high brown grass. He looked up from time to time to get his bearings and looked to see if she was following him. The French Trees were still holding their leaves then and the brown grass on the trail could hide anything. The wife said she was enjoying her walk when they came up on a rather large dead pine tree top. The wife said she thought it was the one that got hit my lighting and was not prepare at all when a grouse thundered out from beneath it. She had just caught her breath when Duncan jumped at the bottom of tree top and a second grouse even louder took off and flew over her head.

"Not today" she yelled out and Duncan looked down the trail then turned and trotted back to us on the deck. I gave him a good pat on the back and told him maybe a stupid one will find its way in to the yard for us. The wife got up and went back into the cabin but first she gave both me and Duncan pats on our heads. Duncan jumped down from the swing and raced around the cabin heading for the road. A few minutes later he reappeared with the mail. He jumped up on the swing and gave it to me. Nothing interesting so I gave it back to him. He jumped from the swing to the deck and then went to the back door He stood on his hind legs and rang the door bell with his nose The wife came and got the mail and Duncan went in for his reward. I just sat on the deck and thought how I would sure like to walk down that trail with Duncan here at Lake Iwanttobethere.
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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THE WIFE AND I were sitting outside on the swing last night affeer supper. The daughter had cooked supper making spaghetti and her meatballs. The meatballs are half mild sausage and half hamburger with onions and cracker crumbs. She pan fries the meatballs and then simmers them in the sauce while she makes the noodles and heats up French bread that is already cut up and buttered. We ate supper and had a little red wine and were now outside enjoying the evening. We were sharing our thoughts, she on how nice the evening was and how dark green the grass was in the yard. The French trees were dropping leaves and the garden looked good now that the sweet corn had been cut down. She sipped on her wine as I looked at the yard and saw it a little different.

The deep green grass is going to need another mowing. The falling leaves were going to need raking. The garden was going to have to have tomato plants pulled and potatoes and carrots harvested. The rain gutter garden had tomato and peppers to be brought in and the five gallon buckets emptied and the tarps folded and put away. Lawnmowers to the shop and oil changes for the Jeep and Tahoe. Even though the Puddle Humper never got wet this summer it still needs to be checked, ropes tighten around the winter tarp and the full tank of gas replaced with fresh stuff. I still have a snow thrower to buy and a tree full of apples to be picked. Fire wood to cut and wood racks by the cabin filled.

Back in the cabin I got help to my easy chair and sat back on the cushion and turned on the TV looking to relax. The wife came in and stared washing dishes as she looked at a basket of clothes to be washed and thought about rugs to be vacuumed and beds to be made in the morning. Cats needed to be fed along with Duncan. Water bowls filed and bring me some juice. Funny how we look at things just a tad different.

I read this to my wife who asked me how I managed to have more stuff to do then her. She then started to rattle of her list but thankfully I don't remember it all here at Lake Iwanttobethere
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!

Offline Bobby Bass

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BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, the last several days. I have not had the time to even sit down at my desk and jot anything down. The grand kids have been over so I have put them to work. They, under the proper direction work way quicker then I do. Big garden has been harvested and pretty much cleaned up. The growing potatoes in five gallon buckets did not turn out as planned. I did get a mess of small potatoes which will be good in stews but no big tatters were grown. I have not given up as next year I will try again but add more holes to the buckets and use fresh new cuttings instead of the third generation seed potatoes like I did this year. Another bed was built and filled with dirt. If we get one last warm day the wife will transplant strawberries into it.

Apples were picked and pies made but the tree is still loaded so a few more picking days are needed More pies for the freezer will be made and I will make a couple of batches of applesauce. Should have mowed the grass but ran out of time, daughter wants leaves to bury her new flower bed and it is easier to rake when the grass is short. Normally it would not be a problem as I would just mow with the tractor and mulch it all. Shop still has to be cleaned out and mowers and tractor tucked inside. Have to make room for the snow thrower when I buy it. Or we will make a spot in the garage. We have been fighting a fruit fly invasion in the cabin. When I brought in the citrus bushes I forgot to give them their usual soap wash and I guess we brought in a bunch of fruit flies. I made traps and we seem to be winning the war as there are less fly's buzzing us.

The other night the oldest daughter and her girls took me shopping down at the General Store. I bought some tee shirts on sale and a new hard gun case. The gun case is for my son in law as I am going to gift him my double barrel shotgun. This will join the 30/30 that I gave him this summer. I know both guns will be taken care and get some use down the road. On our way home we spotted Stan and Jeanies ice cream truck and we honked till they pulled over. During this time of the year they also sell caramel apples and as soon as I said I would buy everyone wanted one. The best part of Stan's caramel apples is they use ripe apples so you don't have to cut them up with knife to eat them like the kind they sell in a store. Nice thing is you are buying your apples from an ice cream truck so you can get any kind of sprinkes on your caramel apple. I just got a big apple double dipped in caramel and it was delious.

Chuck my next door neighbor has been busy this last week to. He tore of the roof on his porch and is redoing it all. A few more nice days and it will be shingled and then he will be good to go to do some bird hunting and before you know it deer season will be here. O as for bird hunting even though I am giving away my shotgun I still have my trusty single shot, which is a lot lighter to tote around the woods and it is full choke just in case a stupid grouse wanders into my backyard. Still have some tomatoes in the back under plastic and as long as a frost does not happen I will be harvesting tomatoes still. Lots of carrots in the beds and still more work for the kids to do. Today they are all at Old McDonnell's corn maze and I am staying home and am going to watch some football and maybe a hockey game this evening. We had satellite installed this week just so I can watch hockey this winter. Kind of a reward if I promise to get myself out of this wheelchair. I know a kind of funny reward but this is Lake Iwanttobethere
Bobby Bass


Bud and now Barney working the trail again in front of me.

It is not how many years you live, it is how you lived your years!